自宅で焼肉！

Most of us are a little horrified by the crowds flocking to the restaurants and such. We don't really want to go out that much. We don't have data on this matter of whether hanging out at one another's homes is 'safer' in terms of avoiding infections. But it definitely makes for easier contact tracing, and if we narrow our face-to-face social circle and don't gallivant everywhere, we can't spread any viruses further.

The Circuit Breaker and Phase 1 did funny things to the friends. They already have one of those Weber-type electric/gas grill to churn out serious pieces of meat. But they also bought a Korean BBQ grill pan and a squat table/countertop charcoal konro. Once Phase 2 kicked in and visitors were allowed, we planned ahead and made a dinner date to utilize their konro (木炭コンロ). Hahahaha. Yakiniku dinner at home!

I was so tickled to see that they bought the same identical grill. Binchotan was used for tonight. The six pieces of binchotan had to be fired for 30 minutes in the giant grill first. Otherwise it can't get to that glowing ember hot enough to cook food. Once the coals were fired and started turning white, the meats sizzled. We skipped the the vegetables and seafood this round. The genrous hosts had already bought some karubi beef. J and J said they would bring pork and also 25 skewers of chicken satay. So we stopped by Meidi-ya to buy some stuff and contributed more beef and pork. We also randomly cured a small fillet of kanpachi in salt and sake as an appetizer. 

The meats were quite delicious. Oddly, I prefer the pork to the beef. The kurobuta pork I'm still not a fan of that wagyu marbled flavor regardless of how it's cooked. The supermarket didn't stock jo-rōsu that day. So we got the jo-karubi cut which is perfect for yakiniku. It cooks so fast, literally in 45 seconds. J said he bought the satay from some seller on Shopee. Couldn't stop laughing. You could really buy many things off many sites nowadays! The chicken satay was pretty well-marinated with lemongrass, salt and pepper. It was quite tasty!

We didn't plan for a quick meal. We intended it to be an easy slow night. We even deposited the grouchy-just-vaccinated dog at the grandpawrents so that she wouldn't be alone for too many hours. The weather cooperated beautifully. It was a rainy night with a continuous breeze, so it was super comfortable (you can’t do this in air-conditioning or if you're swarmed by sandflies and mosquitos).The binchotan ensured that we don't have that lingering wood-smoke in the hair, clothes, curtains, couches and such. Haven't seen the friends for soooo long. It was really lovely getting together again. There were plenty champagne and rich bottles of red.

There was a lovely pot of miso soup, and a huge pot of Japanese steamed white rice cooked to go with the meal. The hosts always feed us so well. I had two bowls of soup! I scooped just a bit rice to begin with, knowing that I could top up. Oof. I did! All in all, I had a giant full bowl of it. No guilt! I ate more rice than I should because when the meats juices were drizzled onto it, the combination was seriously tasty. The binchotan lent a depth to the grilled meats. It made all the difference. I saved up all the my meat quota for tonight. I think those probiotics are really working. I felt fine the next day.